LG, Philips, Sharp team up on Smart TV apps

Open standard partnership announced

Three of the biggest names in televisions have announced a partnership to create a new standard in TV apps, using common technical requirements to allow a unified platform.

LG, Philips and Sharp are all going to collaborate on a common approach for Smart connected TV applications – and have invited others to join.

This could compete with proprietary offerings from the likes of Samsung and Sony and help create a richer standard of online content as internet connectivity becomes standard on TVs.

The Smart TV technical requirements will be based on open standards such as HTML5, CE-HTML and HbbTV.

Beta SDK incoming

A software development kit (SDK) will be introduced in beta to allow developers to get working on Apps which would work over many mainstream televisions.

"This cooperation is nothing less than a watershed in the brief history of Smart TVs," said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment Company.

"By working in partnership with two innovators in TVs, we've taken a major step towards creating an app market every bit as inventive and dynamic as the one that exists for smartphones."

This is obviously a bonus to developers who will now have fewer platforms to port their wares onto, although it remains to be seen if this offering can become universal and attract other giants like Samsung, Sony, Google and Apple – who have their own offerings.

"LG, Philips and Sharp invite other Smart TV makers and application developers to participate in the initiative and provide ideas for simplifying the development process while improving the user experience," concludes the release.